


two parentheses with nothing in between

by galacticdrift (Ancalime)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, I guess you could call this beaujest about fjorclay, Pining, References To Past Temporary Character Death, background Caduceus Clay/Fjord, implied spoilers for 98
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23094709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ancalime/pseuds/galacticdrift
Summary: After the events of ep 98, Caduceus has a request for Jester, who ropes Beau in to help.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Comments: 10
Kudos: 151





	two parentheses with nothing in between

**Author's Note:**

> I never get my stuff beta'd so I forgot: many thanks to [constanted](https://archiveofourown.org/users/constanted) for looking this over for Beau & Jester voice!

"Beau! Beau, come here!" Beau jolts at the sound of Jester's low hiss, whirling around. "Are you busy?"

"Uh, no, I'm good, what's up?"

"I need your help with something." Jester motions Beau into her cabin with a jerk of her head. "Grab your jeweler's kit and get in here. Close the door behind you, it's a little bit of a secret."

"Okay. Sure, one second." Retrieving her kit, Beau slips into Jester's room and shuts the door behind her. Jester pats the covers next to where she's sitting on the bed, her feet dangling off the edge.

Taking the invitation, Beau sits on the bed next to her and immediately Jester scoots closer, pressing right up against Beau's side and opening her sketchbook. The two-page spread is full of patterns -- waves, seaweed, mushrooms...rings? Lots of rings. Oh fuck. For a moment Beau's frozen, her stomach plummeting, and she's preparing to claim sudden seasickness as an urgent need to leave, until Jester starts talking again.

"Caduceus asked me for a favor, and I need your help. Plus you and me are the closest to Fjord so I thought you could help me figure out what would suit him best."

"You're designing...rings...for Caduceus and Fjord?" Her voice comes out more shaky and relieved than she'd like, and then the implication of what she's said hits her and she can feel her eyes bug out. "Holy shit they're that serious _already_?"

"Huh? Oh! No, no, no, no, no, no, no--" Jester waves her hands back and forth frantically. "They're not getting _married_."

She stops, staring off into the middle distance, somewhere up toward the ceiling, her feet swinging in and out in a random pattern. "Well. They are pretty serious. But they're not getting married _yet_ . That I know of. But the way they _look_ at each other, _wow_ \--"

"I know, right? It's like they don't even have to _say_ anything to be all-- soft and mushy, you can just _see_ it in their faces."

"I think it's sweet." Jester says, softly, and tilts her head to smile at Beau, who swallows and hopes some semblance of moisture returns to her throat soon. "Anyway. Caduceus needs a ring made of platinum worth fifty gold for each of them for a spell."

"Uh huh. And this spell's not just called 'Wedding?'"

Jester laughs. " _Actually_ , that one's called Ceremony, and you can use it for a bunch of other stuff in addition to marrying people. But no, this one's called Warding Bond."

"What's it do?"

"It basically, you know, buffs someone up a little bit across the board, but then it _also_ splits all damage they take in half and sends one half to the other ring wearer instead."

"Whoa."

"Yeah, it's _pretty_ badass."

"You think Fjord's gonna go for that, though? There's no way he's okay with Caduceus hurting because of him."

"I think, um, I think Caduceus may be planning to skip that part when he tells Fjord about it." Jester must recognize the look of skepticism on Beau's face, because she shrugs. "He'll figure it out eventually, but, you know, Fjord can be...a little unobservant."

Though Beau can't help but laugh, she's keenly conscious at the same time of how grateful she is to be able to find humor in Fjord's occasional obliviousness, because he's _alive_ and _not gone_. "All right. I'm on board with this. So Caduceus needs rings, and he asked you to make them for him?"

"Or design them at least. I thought that since we've got platinum and stuff, and you've got your jeweler's kit, that _you_ could be the one to actually make them."

"Oh, I-- I'm not much of an artist with that stuff."

"But you've been doing so well with the party favors!"

"...Thanks, Jes. I dunno, though. Clay's a lot easier to work with."

"No, you'd be working with me, not with him." Rolling her eyes, Beau bumps her shoulder against Jester's. "Think about how much Fjord would _appreciate_ knowing that not only is Caduceus trying to help protect him, but his very own First Mate made the ring for him to wear."

There's no escaping Jester's pleading expression.

"Okay, okay, put-- put _that face_ away," Beau waves a hand at Jester, hoping her cheeks aren't getting too visibly flushed. "We'll see what we can do. Talk me through these designs you've got."

"Okay, I've got a couple of good ones. I was thinking about it, and I know you'll do a really good job, but I don't want to give you something that's _super_ complicated."

"Yeah, I don't think something really complicated would suit either of them, anyway."

"Right. So flowers, mushrooms, jellyfish, dolphins, too much. It needs to be something simpler than that."

"....Dolphins? Yeah, probably no dolphins. I appreciate your faith in me and my jeweler's kit but I don't think I can craft a tiny platinum dolphin ring." For a moment Beau entertains the idea of trying. She's glad Jester isn't pushing that one too hard, because for Jester, she _would_ try. They would be the shittiest-looking dolphins ever to grace the continent of Wildemount.

"So, good idea number one: you know that holy symbol Fjord wears? And how Caduceus had it custom made for him? And it looks super cool because it's all, like, seaweed and ocean stuff?"

"Right." Beau nods. "In hindsight, _kind_ of a tip-off about those two."

" _Yeah_. So I thought his ring could be kind of like that as well. Like a really cool free-form sort of thing that's just, like, some seaweed wrapped around his finger, you know?"

"Oh, I like that idea. Yeah. That's cool."

"And you'd do great at it because it could be as abstract as you wanted and it would still look really good."

Beau can only stare at Jester, trying not to let her smile grow into something too goofy and stupid.

"And then my second good idea is that I _also_ thought maybe he would like just, something really simple and classy, very understated and elegant, like a mostly plain band with a little bit of a subtle wave pattern worked into it."

"Ohhhh. Shit, that's good too. I could do that." Beau rubs at her chin. "It might be _too_ classy for Fjord, though. It's not like he's, I dunno, fancy. Super formal's not really his thing. I think that idea could really work for Caduceus, though."

"You're _right_ , Beau, you're right." Jester nods firmly. "That one for Caduceus, then."

"And the seaweed for Fjord."

"Seaweed for Fjord." Jester taps her pencil on the page, her gaze unfocused as she considers it, then closes the notebook and flops backward on the bed. "But I want the design to have some kind of connection to Caduceus as well, though."

"Hey-- I'm getting pretty good at grinding up gems. I bet I could do some spots of pink and purple lichen enamel. And maybe blue and green for the waves on the other one."

"Beau, that's it, that's _perfect!_ " Jester rolls close, clinging with both hands to Beau's arm and burying her face in her shoulder. "This way they both have a little reminder on their hands that they can look at and think of each other."

"Not that they seem to _need_ any reminders on that front. You sure these aren't wedding bands?" It's only half a sardonic joke.

Uncurling to lay on her back again, Jester hums, staring up into space with a dreamy, slightly wistful expression. "I think-- they probably _kind of_ are, at least a little bit. I mean, the spell's kind of like that anyway."

"Yeah, kinda seems that way. Married, or, like, family." Arching her back, Beau twists to look down at Jester, sprawled sideways on the bed. It's only a moment before it's too much and Beau falls backward to join Jester in staring up at the ceiling of the cabin. A much safer target.

"You think that sorta thing happens a lot? A cleric using that for-- someone they really love."

"I'm pretty sure I've read some dirty novels where it happens." The noise that comes out of Jester is about half a _giggle_ and about half a _chortle_ , Beau decides.

"'S some real storybook shit for sure, though. A cleric and paladin of the same goddess, falling in love, wearing rings that protect each other."

"Yeah."

Beau rolls her head to the side to look at Jester. She'll never have a better time to ask. "Are you...okay? With...them?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"You were-- I mean--" Beau falters. Swallows hard, turns to look back up at the ceiling so she doesn't let herself overanalyze every tiny shift in Jester's expression. Dragging the words out feels like the sword coming out that time Yasha stabbed her. Like if she moves wrong she's going to bleed out on these covers. "All the, you know, like, the Oskar stuff, back before. I thought you, um. I thought you might be-- upset, or just. Sad, because Fjord didn't choose you."

"I kind of thought I would be too!" Jester sounds a little puzzled, but honestly so, not as if she's trying to joke about it or disguise her true feelings. "But I'm not, I promise, I'm really not. I think about them, and it's-- you're right, it's a really good story, and I'm happy for both of them."

Jester wriggles a little on the bed, shifting until Beau feels hair brush her skin and the curve of a horn pressing into her shoulder. "I'm glad I'm _not_ upset about it. I like being happy for them."

Her voice has dropped to a whisper, but Beau can hear the truth shining through it. There's nothing there that even hints at any pain or bitterness.

"You've got a _fucking great_ story too, you know that, right? Just because it's not the one you thought you had at one point doesn't mean it's not going to turn out amazing."

"I know." Jester nuzzles further in against Beau's shoulder. "And I _like_ me and Fjord the way we are now, you know? I know he cares about me and wants to take care of me and protect me. We don't have to kiss and have sex for that. That's why I'm not upset about it, I think. At some point I realized that that just-- wasn't the _right_ story for me."

"...Cool." Relieved, but feeling a little winded, Beau reaches up and across her body to ruffle Jester's hair lightly. "I'm glad you're not upset about it, too. I hate it when you're upset. And I'd hate having to get in a fight with my own captain if he hurt you."

"Aw, thanks Beau."

**Author's Note:**

> _When all the drowsy metaphors  
>  about women and fruit  
> have been peeled  
> and devoured; _
> 
> _there’s just you, me  
>  a bowl full of summer peaches,  
> two parentheses  
> with nothing in between  
>  (just space)  
> for the tongue’s imagination_
> 
> -Chaia Heller


End file.
